Modi's Private Life is none of our Business - Leave Jashodaben alone

The Times of India

Let us leave Jashodaben alone

by Jyoti Malhotra

11 April 2014

Whatever our ideological issues with Narendra Modi --and I am a big critic -- we should leave his private life alone. How and when and why he left his wife, Jashodaben, is really none of our business. Whether he gave himself up to the RSS instead of fulfilling his "responsibilities" of a husband has nothing to do with what he represents in India's political spaces. What she is doing now, is even less so. Certainly, this is not journalism, it's a feeding frenzy, and it casts a dark shadow on the media's self-driven search for the so-called truth.

For the Mahila Congress president Shobha Ojha to say "if Modi cannot keep his marital vows, how can he be trusted to keep his promises to the nation" is a bit rich. Is the Congress now trying to propagate marital fidelity -- or tell us what the line is between the "lakshman rekha" of male-female relationships ?

Meanwhile, CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat, who of course knows better, couldn't resist saying, "If Mr Modi can conceal his marriage, what else is he concealing?"

As for Modi's pursuit of a female architect in Gujarat, who must remain unnamed, especially if she didnt -- or doesnt - want his attentions, well that's another matter. Let us bring the weight of the spotlight that we carry as journalists to criticise Modi for his behaviour in this case, not because we have the right or authority to decide what his behaviour should be, but because the woman in question is not interested.

Was she, this Gujarat architect, once interested in him ? Perhaps. Should she be castigated for changing her mind ? Not at all. It is her prerogative as an adult to do so, and no one can challenge her for it. By the way, that's the difference between being a major and a minor.

Remember Atal Behari Vajpayee? He continues to be known as India's most interesting bachelor and thank god, we were never interested in his family life, especially not when he was prime minister. Mr Vajpayee travelled with his daughter and son-in-law everywhere, in the country and abroad, but no one was remotely interested in who the "wife" or "mother" figure was. Neither did the people of India want to know -- through television or print or radio, or indeed, through this TOI Blog.

The nation respected Vajpayee's privacy, and must similarly respect Narendra Modi's right to remain silent about his family.

Let us attack the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for all his sins of political omission and commission -- but let us leave Jashodaben alone.